Earlier today, Allstate announced that vehicle thefts among their car insurance clients in Texas dropped 2.5 percent last year, but that those cars which are being stolen are ending up not only deep into Mexico, but even in Guatemala, Honduras, and countries on the other side of the ocean. To help reverse this trend, the insurer has a list of tips they’d like to share with consumers.
Sergeant Trinidad Salazar, a member of the Houston Police Department explains, “More stolen vehicles are going as far as Guatemala and Honduras, even overseas, making them tougher to recover. Stolen trucks and SUVs sent across the border are typically being used for human and drug smuggling. Stolen vehicles sent overseas are used for multiple reasons, including terrorism. That’s why it’s important for the public to know how complex theft has become to drive home the seriousness of the issue.”
Oscar Meza, and Allstate agent in the Houston region elaborates, “No matter where you live or what you drive, car thefts impact us all. Vehicle theft is the number one property crime in the country, costing Americans – even those who are not direct victims – about $7.6 billion a year in higher auto insurance premiums, amounting to $200-300 for every policy holder each year. That’s why it’s critical to be vigilant and practice common sense when it comes to parking your car.”
What do Allstate’s car theft experts recommend? Here are their tips to help protect your vehicle:
Park Smart:
Park in a populated, well-lit area. Auto thieves do not like witnesses and prefer unattended parking lots.
Hide Your Things:
Don’t make your car a more desirable target for thieves by leaving valuables in plain sight. Put them in the trunk or take them with you.
Lock-Up:
Almost half of all vehicles stolen were left unlocked and one out of every five vehicles stolen had the keys in it. Roll up windows, lock-up doors and take your keys.
Make Your Mark:
VIN etching–a permanent engraving of a vehicle’s federally registered vehicle identification number (VIN) on its windshield– makes it tougher for a thief to resell or take your vehicle across the border without replacing the marked glass.
Keep Track:
High-tech tracking devices can alert you–and law enforcement– the moment an unauthorized user moves your vehicle.
A survey conducted in England by a British auto insurer reveals some interesting behavior about new car drivers. Most don’t have a clue about how their new cars work; they just get in and drive off.
The piece was eye-catching for me as I flashed back to a frantic call to my dealership several years ago as I was standing outside my car with the alarm shrieking and no idea how to stop it. I, like 35% of drivers (or at least those in England) hadn’t even glanced at the manual or I might have known to close the door, insert, and turn the key to disengage the alarm. (Notice it just took one ear-splitting incident for me to commit that procedure to memory.)
According to the study, 51% of drivers flick through the manual. Forty percent of women are more likely to drive without reading the manual as compared to 30% of men. The top five problems resulting from this self-imposed ignorance are:
- No idea how to open the hood.
- Clueless on the sound system.
- Stumped by seat position.
- Groping to turn on the headlights.
- Ditto for the wipers.
Thankfully, I was saved most of that by a salesman who wouldn’t let me have the keys until I knew how to do each one of those things. Coincidentally, that’s exactly what the study recommended — dealers and garages walking new car owners through the basics before letting them tool off in their new cars.
Seriously, in the event of an accident caused by your fumbling to find the light switch, neither the police officer nor your insurance agent is going to be all that thrilled with the news that you didn’t just read the book in the glove compartment. We all know about defensive driving how about some defensive reading?
Every good business adviser or financial planner will tell you: when you’re ready to shop for any big ticket item, whether it’s a new refrigerator, a new car, or insurance for your car, the best thing you can do is comparison shop. Doing so is likely the only way to be certain you’re getting the very best deal on whatever you’re trying to buy.
In today’s world, with demanding work schedules, homes, children, and dogs to take care of, and the fact that many people feel pressured to buy when dealing with sales representatives face to face, more and more consumers are turning to the Internet to do their research. It is for this reason that so many insurance companies are offering quotes via the web.
Comparison shoping online gives consumers the ability to obtain free insurance quotes without having to provide detailed personal information. Instead, most websites require fairly basic information – the make and model of the car you want to explore, your age, gender and marital status, and sometimes, a zip code. Using this, almost every insurance company has enough data to generate at least a basic quote, subject to documentation of all the input information, of course.
How do you pick which companies to request quotes from? Do your research. If Titan is one of the insurers your considering, find and read a Titan Auto Insurance review; if Geico strikes your fancy, check out what Consumer Reports says about them. Ask your friends and colleagues which companies they use, and check out their websites.
Is Shopping Online Safe?
If you’re concerned that online research isn’t enough, or that it’s not safe, consider what the Missouri Department of Insurance had to say, “The Department recommends that you get three quotes when shopping. But with Internet shopping, three quotes take no time at all. You could probably get 20 quotes in the same amount of time it takes to drive to or call three agents.”
Online comparison shopping would seem to be the best way to research prospective insurers, then. It’s efficient, it’s inexpensive, and you can do it from work during your lunch hour, or even at home in your pajamas.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety isn’t content with merely picking the safest cars on the road, they also want consumers to know how to shop for safety features when they go to the car dealership. Rather than letting you be dazzled by deals on GPS systems and Bluetooth compatibility, they believe you should look at safety first.
When analyzing safety features, the IIHS says, there are two key categories you should pay attention to: crash avoidance, and crash worthiness. What’s the difference between them?
Crash Avoidance includes technology like rear cameras to help you safely back up, traction control, for better tire gripping on less-than-perfect road surfaces, and electronic stability control, which helps your vehicle handle curves and turns more smoothly.
Crash Worthiness on the other hand, is divided into three areas: size, structure, and safety restraints.
- Size: When it comes to crashes, bigger is better. Larger vehicles tend to have crumple zones – space between the front bumper and the interior, that can wrinkle without causing serious injuries. Heavier vehicles are less likely to roll over, or sustain much damage.
- Structure: Crash-worthy structures include roll bars, rubber bumpers, safety cages, and reinforced door posts – basically anything intrinsic to the design of a car that makes it more likely to withstand impact.
- Safety Restraints: These include everything from basic seatbelts to airbags – and the safest cars have a full compliment of the latter, including side-curtain airbags – as well as the ability to disengage the front airbags if the driver or front-seat passenger is smaller than five feet tall.
When shopping for you next car, choose one that has an array of crash avoidance and crash worthiness features, for the safest ride, but remember that no technology can protect you from an accident caused by being distracted. Keep your eyes on the road, and not on the video monitor or cell phone screen.
Advice & How-to, Auto Safety, Texas Car Insurance | Cari | 
June 10, 2010 4:52 PM | 
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